At one point in the debate over the proposed new middle school in Concord, leaders on the city’s Board of Education had pinned their hopes on state funding.
But as state lawmakers wrestled this spring over where to allocate New Hampshire’s limited resources, a pitch to increase aid for school construction projects failed to make the cut.
Now, they’re revisiting it.
Lawmakers head back to the drawing board this Tuesday as they consider multiple formulas for state building aid: Should the state keep its unofficial moratorium on new projects and just pay down the existing debt? Should some money be kept aside specifically for new construction, or solely for renovation?
“Everyone wants to do something, but we can’t seem to agree on what that is,” said Rep. Michael Cahill, a Newmarket Democrat whose bill to increase building aid was held in committee for further discussion.
Members of the House Education Funding Committee are set to meet next on Tuesday at 1 p.m. to continue discussions they began last month.
As the Concord Board of Education weighs its options to either renovate Rundlett Middle School or build a new school at a different location, time is running out to save money on the $155 million project.
The Legislature won’t decide on the funding structure until next year, so with their hopes of securing building aid anytime soon all but shot, school board members are looking to capitalize on tax credits and rebates.
Those applications need to be made soon, however. If the district waits too long, it could lose out on millions of dollars.
